Winter Lies
by Rainy-Pines
Summary: A (very music based) Human AU where Ruby, a sophomore in high school, moves into an old, worn-down town. There she meets Sapphire, her polar opposite. They form a tight and unlikely friendship. However, after the first week or so of school, Ruby's behavior begins to get out of hand. Rated T for minor swearing/violence.
1. Chapter 1

_"Cheated and lied, broken so bad_

 _You made a vow, never get mad_

 _You play the game, though it's unfair_

 _They're all the same, who can compare?_

 _First you lose trust, then you get worried..."_

* * *

I sat in the very back of the bus, arms crossed over my chest. I don't get why I even have to be here; school didn't officially start until tomorrow. Right now I was the only one on the bus, with the exception of the bus driver.

I stared out the window, watching the trees, fields, bushes, and grass go by in a blur. My mom made me move into the middle of nowhere with her. I would have much preferred to stay in the city with my dad. This country stuff just wasn't for me. I like knowing my way around places, and the buzz of the city at night. I liked being able to walk to the store with my friends and getting some gum or soda. I liked going to other people's houses and getting "help" with my homework. Now I live out in the sticks. No Mini-Mart to steal packs of gum from, no streets to bike down in the summer, and, most of all, now there was no escaping my mother and her ass of a boyfriend.

All throughout my hour-and-a-half school commute, only two others got on. Both of them looked as if they were in the fifth or sixth grade. I remained the only sophomore. The elementary school was a small, brick building. It had two floors, but it looked like it only held some six-hundred kids or so. After the elementary school (which was a huge waste of time going to, since nobody got off), we took another five minutes to drive down the old, worn road to the middle school and high school. The middle school was actually a good deal bigger than the high school, which was actually a bit concerning. I pondered over the why for a moment. Then I just sighed. I didn't want to think. I hadn't done any thinking for about three months; I wasn't going to start just yet.

I rummaged around in my bag, looking for my instructions. There they were! Wedged between my phone and my binder was a half-sheet of pale blue paper.

 _Please head into the gym. To get there, take the first hall on the left from the initial front entrance. It is at the very end of the hall. We will give you full instructions there. Bring all of the materials that were required on the school supplies list._

 _Signed,_

 _Bruce Coleman, principal of Benton High_

I was struck by a sudden fit of amusement. Even their names were country like. As I neared the end of the hall, I gazed dully at the door. _Int_ _o Hell I go,_ I thought to myself.

...

I found a spot at the top of the bleachers, isolating myself from the other thirty to forty students spread out in the gym. The principal, Mr. Coleman, had babbled for a while about rules and expectations, yada yada yada. Then he split us into groups by the color of our half-sheets. Apparently, there were about ten NHS students that had been going to the Benton School District their entire lives to show us around.

I was placed in the Light Blue Group with a freshman and an Honors student to show us around. There were about three people per group counting their escorts. The gym was filled with chatter as all of the groups went their separate ways. Some outside through the back gym doors, some out in the halls, some stayed in the gym... My group wasn't so chatty. I have a feeling that all of us were deprived of sleep. Our helper barely said anything, just "We're going to go check out your lockers, so you can put your stuff in them first."

The Honors student took us towards the back of the school, where everything started to change color to blacks and creamy browns. Even the lockers were their school colors. The cocky freshman dude's locker was first. He insisted that he could do it by himself, so the Honors student tagged along with me.

I had my locker number and combo written on my palm in black Sharpie. As I neared my locker, I was relieved to see that I got a pretty good locker. Some of the others were dented or had really bad chipped paint. I felt the Honors student's eyes watch me as I entered my combo. I tried to open my locker, but it wouldn't budge. I tried again. Still no luck. "It's right-left-right, right?" I asked her, with an uneasy glance behind my shoulder at her.

I saw a smile play at her lips. "No. It's just right-left-right."

"I - isn't that what I...?" I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. A sudden realization dawned on me. "Ohhh..." I laughed. "I got that." I said stupidly. Dammit, me. Say something cool or something for once.

She got quieter after that. Like that joke was a one-time sort of thing, never to be heard again.

I tried my combo once again. Still nothing. I cleared my throat a little, like that would clear away some stupidity. "Hey, could you help me with this?" I asked her awkwardly.

"Sure," she replied steadily. She brushed some of her blonde hair out of her eyes. I repeated my combo for her, and she tried. No luck. "Why...? Ah." She seemed to have come up with a reason. She re-entered my combo in, but this time she jerked the latch up instead of lifting it casually. It popped open with a quiet screech.

"Hey, uh, thanks." I said, trying to hide my face. Why hadn't I thought of that? I cursed myself for my stupidity for the second time that day.

* * *

I own absolutely none of the products or characters in this story. The only thing I own is the story itself.

Another thing I don't own: the song stanza at the beginning. It's a little excerpt from the song "First" by Cold War Kids.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N - Hopefully this chapter is a bit smoother than the last one. Please leave a review, especially if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes! Typing things up on my tablet is more challenging then on a keyboard. :'D_

* * *

 _"Weep for yourself, my man_

 _You'll never be what is in your heart_

 _You're not as brave as you were at the start_

 _Rate yourself and rake yourself_

 _Take all the courage you have left_

 _And waste it on fixing all the problems you made in your own head..."_

* * *

I slung my bag off of my shoulder and dropped on the ground in front of my locker. I pulled out my binder and set it in the black locker, but dropped my phone in my back pocket. I glanced back at the girl behind me. She was looking down the hall. The freshman guy was walking up to her, not looking half as cocky as he did earlier.

"Hey, uhh... I'm not feeling so good. Where's the office?" He asked her, a thin layer of sweat covering his face.

She sighed, then nodded. "You ready to go?" She asked.

I slammed my locker shut with a flick of my wrist. "Yeah." Making sure that my phone was still in my back pocket, I followed behind them, watching her beautiful blonde hair swish back and forth as she walked, catching the sunlight whenever we passed a window.

"The office is right down here," she said. "They'll call your parents and you'll get picked up."

The dude nodded. He had turned a pale shade of green. Jesus flipping Christ, he wasn't kidding when he said he was felling kind of bad. I thought he was faking it; he seemed fine earlier. He followed the girl into a large, white room that strongly reminded me of a hospital room. There were two garbage cans, a sink, and a little mini freezer.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" A chick's voice asked from behind us. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a white jacket.

"Yeah. Could you tell Mr. Coleman that Trent is sick, and had to go home please?" Sapphire asked curtly.

"Sure thing!" The office aid said cheerily, casting us a grin.

As we walked away, I heard Sapphire say quietly, "Just me and you now, huh?"

I hesitated, then nodded shyly. "We can still do the tour stuff, though, right?" I asked anxiously. I really wanted to have this place down before the end of the day. I would hate to get lost in such a small school.

"Of course we can," she said smoothly. Her voice wasn't cold or anything, but it did seem... off? I ignored it. It was probably nothing. "First stop for us is the cafeteria," she said in a very matter-of-fact type of voice. I didn't quite get all of her moods and stuff. One second she's all professional, the next second she's cracking jokes, then she's distant, and now she's back to professional. I tempted to ask her about it, but restrained myself. That might lead to awkward questions or subjects. Those were the very last things that I wanted. Anything awkward = Bad.

I followed her to the small cafeteria. It had no stage for performances, no line to get school food... All it had were nice, wooden tables lined up in rows. I was about to ask her where people got school food from, when she answered that herself.

"If you want to get a school lunch, there's a little room in the back where they hand out the food. Not many people get school food, so it's free."

"O-oh." I said stupidly. Baby flipping Jesus, Ruby! Act intelligent for once in your life!

Well, I'm not intelligent, I argued with myself stubbornly.

"Next place up is the art room..."

* * *

After my little tour, she showed me the track (with permission from a teacher, of course). It was surrounded by green grass and daisies. There were a couple of oak trees around the edges. She pointed out the tall, wired fencing that separated the track from a different field. That other field was the practice field for girl's soccer.

"Do you play soccer?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't see the point of kicking a ball around," she said with a casual shrug.

"It's a lot more than kicking around a ball!" I snapped. So she was one of _those_ people.

She looked at me, surprise evident in her crystal blue eyes. "You look more like a softball player to me then a soccer player," she said.

I bristled. "I play softball too!" I growled.

She shrugged. "And I bet you're great at both of them."

The sudden compliment threw me. "I -! Wait, what?"

"You just look like the sporty type. And you've been stretching your wrist out a lot."

I hadn't even noticed. I knew it was a nervous tick of mine, and it was something I don't ever really notice. "I'm pitcher." I admitted with a little smile. I was proud of my ability to throw a fast ball over eighty miles per hour.

"Cool. I used to play first base," she told me.

"Used to? What happened?"

"I stopped playing." The tone in her voice told me it was best to back off.

We sat on the grass in awkward silence. The bell rang in the high school, loud enough to barely be heard over the wind and rustling leaves.

"Shall we go back?" She asked me. It was one of those questions that only had one answer.

"Do I have a choice?" I laughed bitterly.

"Of course you do. You can stay here until the end of the day and get in trouble, or go back and be bored. Either way, I've got to go back. I need to help students if they forgot where their classes are." She pulled herself up off the ground, stretching out her long legs.

"Or 'you can stay here until the end of the day and get in trouble.'" I quoted her.

She laughed. Her laugh was so pretty... "My own words used against me!" She held clutched her hand over her heart and looked up at the sky dramatically. She pretended to stumble back a few steps, giving me a fake, hurt look with her clear blue eyes.

I snorted. "Let's get you inside, dorkus. Before you trip over a dandelion."

* * *

 _Song used: Little Lion Man (explicit) by Mumford and Sons_


	3. Chapter 3

"Hope is just a ray of what everyone should see

Alone is the street you found me

Scared of what's behind and scared of what's in front

Live with what you have now and make the best of what's to come"

-"Tell Me a Story" by Phillip Phillips

* * *

As we headed indoors towards Ruby's first class (biology, yuck!), I couldn't help but feel the small amount of heat on my face. I was pretty sure I couldn't blame it on the temperature, since it wasn't that hot out. Why was I being so goofy with her? It's not like I've known her for that long. I didn't even know what subjects she liked. Most of the new kids were already in their classes, although some were still having trouble with their lockers. All of the volunteers that had wanted to help could go home at noon, after lunch. But I had chosen to stay. I'm not exactly sure why, but I felt like maybe she would be a friend. One that wouldn't leave me. So I remained at the school, with the excuse that I had lost track of time and missed the noon buses, specially set up for the students that had permission to leave.

For today, all everyone needed was a pencil and possibly a piece of paper for every class. Today all of the new students were to rotate to all eight of their classes, and because of the tours, each class was twenty minutes. I paused for a moment while she spun her locker combo as fast as she could, yanking the latch upwards when she completed it. I watched as she tore open her bag, reaching inside and pulled out a handful of very crinkled papers, and a couple of pencils. She slammed her locker shut.

"Where's the biology room again?" she asked briefly, her breath short.

"You don't need to worry about being late today, they're always pretty easy today. I think they only mark you tardy if you're ten minutes late." What was wrong with me? I had never been late to class, not once in my life. But here I stood, saying that it was ok to be late.

"Oh. Cool." She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I think I might remember where it is, anyway... Can you come with me..? Just so I have someone to sit by?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, our group was split up and I never really got to meet anyone because my bus was a little late and you're the only one I've actually talked to and I..." Her voice trailed off as she ran out of excuses. She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes. "Please?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I have no way to get home right now. The buses have already left." I smiled at her, but she wore a guilt-stricken look.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know that you guys got to go home early! I didn't mean to -"

"I would sure as hell rather be here than home." I scoffed gently. "So let's just get you to biology, alright?"

The late bell went off, three little chimes. The odd thing was that I didn't care. I normally would have been panicked to know that I was late.

"Er... Alright. Ok.

We walked side by side in the empty halls. She tried to take a turn into the wrong classroom, but I grabbed her arm.

"It's a couple up, remember? That's the band room." I told her, releasing her arm.

"Oh, uhh... Yeah." she said. "I forgot."

When we entered the biology class, the teacher was right in the middle of class expectations. He glanced at us, coming in. "That reminds me - rule number one! Never. Ever. Be late to my class." He turned towards us, recognition sparking in his eyes. "Weren't you supposes to go home, Sapphire?"

"I missed the buses," I explained rather uneasily. Talking to adults was never my specialty, especially when they were teachers.

"Why didn't you call home?" he asked suspiciously, leaning against the wall.

"I'd rather not bother them," I said. "I'd rather go home in the afternoon."

.

The rest of the day went by without incident. Ruby and I exchanged phone numbers, even though my cellphone didn't get reception at my house. I could always just text her on the bus.

I didn't have my bag with me, since I was only supposed to be there for half a day. I had my phone in my back pocket. I took it out, walked to my bus, and sat in the back seat. I tried out her number.

 _S: Hello?_

I was expecting at least a few seconds wait, but and answer came immediately.

 _R: yo_

 _R: your sapphire, right_

I rolled my eyes. I hated bad grammar, but I would deal with it. At least she wasn't shortening all of her words or yanking out all the vowels or something. I typed up a quick response.

 _S: No, I'm the pizza delivery man. Who else?_

 _R: well in that case could I get a small cheese pizza and a diet water_

I snorted out loud. I quickly covered my mouth with a hand, glancing up at her bus driver, the only other person on the bus. She hadn't noticed.

 _S: Nope_

 _S: Fresh out of pizza. You can have the diet water, though._

 _R: you ride the bus, right_

 _S: Yeah. The elk bus._

 _R: I ride the squirrel bus_

 _S: Lucky duck. I've got two hours to kill, and only 90 minutes of that can be texting you._

 _R: DAYUM_

 _R: and why only 90 minutes_

I grinned at her use of caps lock as another message popped up on my screen.

 _R: ANSWER ME, WOMAN_

 _S: I'm typing, I'm typing, calm yourself, chica_

 _S: My phone loses reception_

 _R: don't pull your espanol skills on me, mate_

 _R: yo hablo espanol_

 _S: De donde eres tu?_

 _R: yo soy de Australia_

 _S: I thought I heard a little accent. ;D_

 _R: you have an accent too and you live here_

 _R: de donde eres tu?_

 _S: Yo soy de Finland._

 _R: say something in finnish_

 _S: Olen puhunut._

 _R: means what_

 _S: I have spoken._

 _R: very creative_

 _S: What?_

 _R: sarcasm sapphire_

 _R: sarcasm_

* * *

Spanish translations in order of appearance (sorry for the lack of tildes, if that bothers you. I just doubt that phones have that option. xD)

 _S: I'm typing, I'm typing, calm yourself, girl._

 _R: don't pull your Spanish skills on me, mate_

 _R: I speak Spanish_

 _._

 _Where are you from?_

 _R: I'm from Australia_

 _R: Where are you from?_

 _S: I'm from Finland._

So anyways, this chapter was kind of a refresher for the basic stuff in my Spanish class. Unfortunately, I left my notes in my locker. Oops. If you noticed a wrong translation or something, please tell me. Pretty please. I know that I probably should have used 'Y tu?' that one time, but it felt weird saying that in the middle of a conversation. :'D

All the texting. Writing Ruby's texts are so painful. xD


End file.
